The stage has been set for the launch of the SAD - BJP Lok Sabha election campaign with several lakh Punjabis expected to congregate at the historic Fateh rally being held here which will be presided over by NDA prime ministerial candidate Narindra Modi and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.Giving details of the arrangements, senior SAD leader and State Revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the scale of the arrangements were commensurate with the massive turnout expected at the rally whose preparations were being personally monitored on an every day basis by SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal.The statistics alone to cater to around five lakh people who are expected at the rally are mind boggling. The entire grass root workers of SAD - BJP alliance are coming here in buses for which three parkings have been established over three hundred acres. Similarly arrangements have been made for 130 water tankers. Twelve medical teams have been constituted and will be posted at the rally site.
Majithia said the stage constructed for the rally was one of its kind. The stage has been set in three layers with a central walk way which will allow Mr Narindra Modi and other VVIPs including BJP President Rajnath Singh to come right up front to address the people. Besides the central stage, two stages have been set up on either side of the main stage to accommodate the entire senior SAD - BJP leadership.Meanwhile hundreds of Youth Akali Dal activists have congregated at the rally site. YAD office incharge Parminder Brar disclosed that 21 committees have been formed to look into various aspects of the rally including provisioning of efficient parking and 'langar' for which four spaces had been designated. Brar said volunteers had been deputed at the various parkings besides each of the 21 seating blocks at the rally site.SAD spokesman Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema said the senior leadership of the SAD- BJP has also been monitoring the preparations. He said Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal held a meeting at the rally site on February 17 while Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal has visited the rally site twice while Mr Bikram Majithia has been virtually camping there since the last four days. Dr Cheema said senior BJP leaders who have visited the rally site include Punjab BJP President Kamal Sharma, Cabinet minister Surjit Kumar Jyani and Adviser to the chief minister.